


meet me (in the afterglow)

by queenC_13



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Lena Luthor Needs a Hug, Post Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-30
Updated: 2019-08-30
Packaged: 2020-09-30 09:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20445125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenC_13/pseuds/queenC_13
Summary: because we all know Afterglow is a supercorp song lesbihonest





	meet me (in the afterglow)

**Author's Note:**

> haven't written anything in a hot minute so sorry if this sucks but i live up taylor swift's ass and she said supercorp rights matter so i had to do it

_ I blew things out of proportion, now you're blue _

_ Put you in jail for something you didn't do _

_ I pinned your hands behind your back, oh _

_ Thought I had reason to attack, but no _

…

_ “You’re with me right?” _

_ “Always.” _

Since that game night, Lena had definitely been avoiding Kara and she didn’t know why. Every time Kara texted her she would get a short, one-word answer, or no answer at all. Kara was trying to be patient but it was really starting to frustrate her.

“I know she lost her brother, but I’m her best friend! She should be confiding in me, not avoiding me,” Kara complained to Alex (for what Alex felt was the hundredth time). 

“You know Lena,” Alex replied (for what she felt was also the hundredth time). “She’s bad with her emotions.”

“But she’s always been different with me. She’s always let me be here for her.” Kara sank down on her couch with a sigh. “I just want to keep being here for her.”

Alex sat down next to her sister and put her arm around her, drawing Kara in for comfort. “So don’t give her a choice,” Alex finally said. “Just show up at her office and don’t take no for an answer.”

Kara sighed again. “You’re right… I just miss her.”

“I know Kar,” Alex said softly, before kissing her sister on the forehead. “It’ll be alright, just let her know you’re here for her.”

…

The next day Kara stormed into Lena’s office at L-Corp where she had been spending more of her time_—_unfortunately not keeping her calm as Alex had probably meant by not taking no for an answer.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Kara demanded.

Lena had looked up as soon as the door opened, but her expression was one that Kara had never seen directed at her before. It was blank, her eyes a steely grey instead of their usual emerald. 

“I’m not avoiding you,” Lena simply replied. “I’m just busy.”

“You’ve always made time for me before,” Kara protested. 

“Well, my brother wasn’t dead before,” Lena replied bitterly.

Kara moved closer to Lena’s desk, trying to break her resolve. “That’s why I’m trying to be here for you. Why won’t you let me?”

“Not everything is about you, Kara.”

The air left Kara’s chest in a hard  _ whoosh _ . Lena had never talked to her like that before.

“I know it’s not about me,” she finally said. “I thought I was your best friend. Best friends help each other through the hard times.”

Lena just continued staring at Kara with that blank expression on her face. Kara didn’t get it_—_it wasn’t like Lena could have known that Kara was the one who killed her brother. That she also felt an enormous weight of guilt and pressure in making sure Lena was okay, because she was the one who took someone else away from Lena. “You know I’ve lost people too. I know what it’s like.”

Lena scoffed. “Yeah, I know all about that.”

“What are you talking about?”

Lena finally stood up, but walked towards the windows of her balcony, turning away from Kara. “You’ve lost a lot of things,” Lena said. “But I bet losing your planet was harder than losing a brother… wasn’t it?”

* * *

_ Fighting with a true love is boxing with no gloves _

_ Chemistry 'til it blows up, 'til there's no us _

_ Why'd I have to break what I love so much? _

_ It's on your face, and I'm to blame _

It was as if Lena had just punched Kara in the stomach. She felt sick. This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t know, she couldn’t…

“What are you talking about?” Kara stuttered out.

Lena whirled around, eyes flashing in anger. “Don’t even try to lie your way out of this. Not after all of the other lies. I don’t deserve that.”

“How could you- how did you-?”

Lena scoffed again. “My brother of course, who else?”

“But-”

“Right before I shot him. He let me in on a little secret… the secret that my apparent best friend, the woman who had become the most important person in my life, had been lying to me. That in fact, every single person who I thought was my friend had been lying to me. Do you all sit together and laugh once I leave game night? _What an idiot Lena is, can’t even figure out that her own best friend is Supergirl!_”

“Lena, no! It’s not like that,” Kara took a step towards Lena, stopping when the other woman took a clear step back. “Wait- what do you mean, you shot him? Lena…”

Lena laughed bitterly, “I know. You thought you killed him. Perfect Super killed the Evil Luthor. Well, you were wrong about that. My darling brother survived. Until I found him of course.”

Kara felt sick to her stomach. How could this have happened? How could this have gone so wrong? Lena was looking at her as if she didn’t even know her. “Lena, I swear I was going to tell you. I just-”

“Didn’t trust me? Wanted to make a fool of the last Luthor?”   


“Lena,  _ no _ , of course not. You’re my best friend!”

“No I’m  _ not _ Kara,” Lena interrupted, her voice sharp as a whip. “I am not your anything, not anymore.”

“Lena-”

The other woman put her hand up, cutting Kara off. Her shoulders started to shake almost imperceptibly, and all Kara wanted to do was go and comfort her like she always had. 

“You know, I finally thought that maybe I would get my happy ending,” Lena finally said, her voice cracking. “That maybe I could have the girl, and the friends, and the career. But I guess it was all just another fantasy.”

It was the heartbreak written all over Lena’s face that finally broke Kara. “I’m sorry Lena. I really did want to tell you. If you would just let me explain I-”

“Just go.”

“ _ Lena- _ ” she tried once more.

“Go!”

Kara could hear the sobs as she shut the office door behind her; she felt her own eyes welling with tears, blurring her vision. As she entered the elevator she could feel her chest start to seize up, and she ran out at the next available floor, speeding to the stairwell so she could get to the roof. She took off for her apartment, dialing Alex on the way.

“I need you,” she managed to get out, before the sobs finally overtook her.

* * *

_ It's so excruciating to see you low _

_ Just wanna lift you up and not let you go _

_ This ultraviolet morning light below _

_ Tells me this love is worth the fight, oh _

It had been three weeks since the confrontation in Lena’s office and Kara still hadn’t talked to her. She had found out through James that Lena had sold CatCo back to Cat Grant_—_crushing her all over again. For that first week she hadn’t even been able to go to work. Kara had lost her whole world before, but this? Somehow this felt worse.

Lena was her best friend. She was the person that Kara wanted to talk to when she was having a bad day, or when she saw something funny or cute or heard a song that reminded her of Lena. She was the last person that Kara thought of when she went to sleep, and the first person she texted when she woke up. They spent so much time together trying new foods, watching movies, and just  _ talking _ that now Kara’s life felt like a black hole where Lena should be, but wasn’t. And felt like she never would be again.

After that first week when Kara went back to work, she was patrolling as Supergirl_—_and if she happened to be near L-Corp well, that was just a coincidence. 

She flew as close to the windows on the top floor as possible, hearing Lena’s heartbeat before she saw her. And when she did see her, she felt her heart breaking all over again.

It was clear that Lena hadn’t been getting much, if any, sleep. The bags under her eyes were purple and sunken; her skin was ashy and her collarbones had started to peak out, as if she had also stopped eating now that Kara wasn’t there to remind her to eat. Her breathing was ragged like every breath she took was painful_—_like she, too, was feeling the emptiness that Kara herself couldn’t get rid of. 

It was excruciating to see Lena like this, to know that Kara was the one who caused this. Who could have prevented all of this pain if she had just… been honest.

With Lena.

And with herself.

Because she could admit it to herself now. What else did she have to lose? No one was that important unless it meant something. Unless you loved them.

And Kara loved Lena.

_ God _ did she love her so much. She wanted to hold her in her arms, reassure her that she was never going anywhere. She wanted to fall asleep next to her and see the sun shining on Lena’s face first thing in the morning. She wanted to make her laugh, and hold her when she cried. 

Kara wasn’t empty because she lost her best friend_—_she was empty because she lost the love of her life.

And she was too much of a coward to admit it before she had lost it forever.

* * *

_ Tell me that you're still mine _

_ Tell me that we'll be just fine _

_ Even when I lose my mind _

_ I need to say _

_ Tell me that it's not my fault _

_ Tell me that I'm all you want _

_ Even when I break your heart _

Two months. It had now been two months since she last talked to Lena.

Of course, she was still checking in on Lena during her Supergirl patrols, but as far as she knew, Lena had never seen her. She wanted to give Lena her space, but this had gone on too long.

After admitting her feelings to herself (and to Alex, who told her that she was an idiot and that everyone knew they were in love), Kara had finally decided that enough was enough, and she was going to earn Lena’s trust back.

It started small_—_she started dropping fresh plumerias in Lena’s office every morning. She didn’t leave a note, but she knew Lena would know who they were from.

Then she started leaving a fresh coffee with the flowers, speeding out of the office before she was seen. 

It escalated to dropping lunches off at her desk while Lena was in meetings, and then to dinners. 

The first time she dropped off the flowers, she could still see the flatness of Lena’s eyes, the thin pressed line of her lips. She watched as Lena threw the flowers in the garbage without another glance. But as she kept leaving them, slowly she watched the tension in Lena's face lessen. She watched as the color slowly came back into her cheeks as she started eating meals again, and some of the softness return to her eyes. 

Eventually she started leaving notes with the flowers. Small things like a new science fact she had learned, or something fascinating about an animal (which her and Lena had always sent back and forth before). Then she started leaving her small compliments_—_about her eyes, her smile, but also her mind and her kindness. She started telling Lena about how she made her feel. That she wasn’t going anywhere. 

After a month of this, it finally ended with a letter. 

* * *

_ It's all me in my head _

_ I'm the one who burned us down _

_ But it's not what I meant _

_ I'm sorry that I hurt you _

_ I don't wanna do this to you _

_ I don't wanna lose this with you _

_ It's all me, just don't go _

_ … _

_ Lena, _

_ I know that I hurt you. I know that I broke your trust in ways that I promised I never would, but I promise that I never meant to hurt you. Nothing that happened was ever your fault, or because of you. I got too in my own head, and I couldn’t stop over thinking, but that was on me. _

_ And the reason that I was so afraid to tell you who I was--who I am--is because I love you. I’m in love with you. And I’m sorry that I’m saying this to you in a letter, but I want you to be able to take this all in. I know that you probably don’t believe me right now and that’s okay. I know that I have to earn your trust back. I’m telling you this now because I  _ _ want _ _ to earn your trust back. _

_ These past few months (and even before that, when I agonized over how to tell you), I felt like I was going crazy. But even when I felt like I was going crazy, all I wanted was you. You’re all that I want. You’re all that I’ve ever wanted, ever since I met you. _

_ I was afraid to admit it even to myself, but being without you has felt like being without a part of myself. I don’t want to lose you forever--I just want you to be mine.  _

_ So if you don’t hate me, and you’re ready to talk to me… turn around _ .

Kara watched, standing on the balcony, as Lena put down the letter. She was holding her breath, waiting, waiting to see what Lena would do, until finally she turned around.

Tears were clouding her eyes_—_eyes that were once again their bright, emerald color, shining with emotion. Her breath hitched as her gaze caught Kara’s--her expression was almost unreadable, but not cold, like it had been before. This was clear nervousness, and uncertainty. Kara took a small step forward.

“Lena-”

“Is it true?” Lena’s voice interrupted her, soft with a slight tremor. 

“Yes,” Kara said, clear with conviction. “I love you. I’ve always loved you.”

Lena nodded once, almost to herself, before starting to move towards Kara.

“Lena?”

She didn’t say anything as she kept walking forward, until she was just a breath away from Kara. “Kara,” she finally sighed out. “I’ve always been yours. Even when you broke my heart; even when I was trying to hate you.”

Kara let out a watery chuckle, her eyes tearing up with emotion. “Yeah?”

“Yes, you idiot,” Lena breathed, before reaching up and pulling Kara into a kiss. 

It was like everything had finally slotted into place once their lips met. Kara had been to dozens of galaxies, but nothing could compare to the feel of Lena.  _ This _ was what she had been missing.  _ This  _ was what she had always been waiting for.

“I love you too,” Lena murmured, once they finally broke apart. “And I think we’re going to be just fine.”

_ Meet me in the afterglow _

**Author's Note:**

> stream Lover by taylor swift xxx


End file.
